


Pink in the Night

by idontshaveforsher_yesyoudo



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Bisexual Steve Harrington, Coming Out, Dealing with the Aftermath of another Monster Attack, Gen, Queer Themes, Underage Drinking, liking Star Wars is Queer Culture, mlm/wlw solidarity, steve coming to term with liking boys, steve is bi and waits for the right moment to tell robin. that's the story.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 00:03:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19896586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idontshaveforsher_yesyoudo/pseuds/idontshaveforsher_yesyoudo
Summary: It started when it hit him that Robin liked girls, when a voice in his mind started chanting'say it, say it, say it', as if it was that easy.As if it was that easy admitting out loud for the first time, ever, that Steve Harrington might like boys as well as girls.





	Pink in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> eyo Steve is my son my baby I love him with my whole heart. He's bi. (or maybe Pan ? I feel like he'd be pan if he lived in 2019. but in this story he's bi.)
> 
> not betaed. feedback always much appreciated !!
> 
> title: I know mitski's Pink in the Night is a romantic song but see it as a friendship-song in this (and go listen to it !!). also a pun bc in some subtexts pink=queer.

The thought had been stuck in Steve’s head ever since that day he almost died.

(Again.)

It started when it hit him that Robin liked girls, and Tammy Thompson of all people, when a voice in his mind started chanting _say it, say it, say_ it, as if it was that easy.

As if it was that easy admitting out loud for the first time, ever, that Steve Harrington might like boys as well as girls. That Steve Harrington walked into the locker room at school at the age of fifteen and saw twenty topless boys and realized that huh, maybe it wasn’t not quite normal to feel the way he did about the sight in front of him. That the reason why he was shocked by Robin’s confession was not only because he thought she liked him but also because he didn’t think that there’d be anyone in Hawkins feeling the same way him.

But for several reasons, he kept his mouth shut. Those reasons being the drugs almost having left his system, the secret being buried too far in his body for it to come out his throat, and lastly, the fact that Dustin and Erica chose that moment to burst in through the bathroom door.

For the next few hours, he was mostly focused on doing everything he could to save his and Dustin’s and Robin’s and Erica’s and pretty much everyone else’s life. Then, once the dust settled, the monster’s carcass (the Mind Flayer, as the kids called it) lay dead in the destroyed mall, the military took control of the situation, Steve found himself looking for Robin in the chaos of soldiers and cars and choppers.

He found her sitting in an ambulance vehicle that he was pretty sure didn’t belong to Hawkins’ hospital, wrapped in a blanket, staring blankly at the floor.

When he collapsed down next to her, she only spared him a glance before looking ahead again and Steve didn’t blame her. He remembered how it had been like for him the first time he was part of killing the Demogorgon and he knew first-hand that the shock was only the beginning of the aftermath. This wasn’t the right time to mention nightmares and panic attacks that were bound to follow, though.

Instead, he shuffled closer to her, just close enough for their shoulders to touch. It took a moment, then she dropped her head to his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her in return.

They sat like that for a long time.

* * *

The next morning, Steve woke up at seven, bathed in sweat.

He counted to ten, and to ten, and to ten again, until his breathing was somewhat normal again, something he’d learned how to do over the past few years since involuntarily starting his hobby as a member of the Hawkins Monster Killing Club.

He then spent the next hour eating a bowl of cereal, trying to listen to the radio, walking around the house that was far too empty for his liking. Once the clock struck eight, he decided that this was a socially acceptable hour to make phone calls and picked up the phone, dialling the number that Robin had given him ‘in case of an emergency’. (He doubted that she’d had any kind of emergency in mind other than him being sick and not being able to make it to work.)

She picked up after it rang twice.

“Hello?”

“Hey, um, this is Steve.”

Her voice perked up audibly when he said his name. “Steve! You up already? Wouldn’t’ve pegged you for an early riser.”

He laughed, but there wasn’t much humour in it. “Yeah, you either.”

She hesitated, then said, “Couldn’t sleep, to be honest.”

“Welcome to my world.”

Robin laughed, and there wasn’t much humour in it, either.

Neither of them said anything for a few moments, then Steve asked, “Wanna come over?”

“Are your parents okay with you having friends over this early?”

It was the first time she called him a friend, Steve noted absentmindedly.

“My parents are never home, they don’t care.” It sounded kind of sad when you put it that way. Right now, Steve had other things to deal with than the constant absence of his parents and the general state of his family.

“Huh.” He could hear Robin think, and his hand clenched by his side. It seemed that she knew him better than he’d thought, because she just said, “I’ll be over in half an hour. Should I bring breakfast?”

“I can make pancakes.”

And that was that.

They spent the morning cooking pancakes and piling as many toppings as they could find in the kitchen on them, ranging from chocolate syrup to fruits to whipped cream. Then Steve made them coffee with his mother’s fancy French press and they moved to the living room, turning on the TV to a random program neither of them were really watching.

It was nice.

They sat it in silence, not as deafening as the one he had woken up to but a comfortable one, and he could feel himself doze off against his will.

He woke up with his heart racing to find Robin laying spread across the couch with her feet in his lap, still asleep.

She looked peaceful, and Steve spent the next hour watching some mind-numbing telenovela that he didn’t understand because it was about on its seventh season, but he didn’t change the channel because it would’ve meant reaching out for the remote on the floor, which would’ve meant waking Robin, and he just didn’t want that.

When Robin finally woke up, he’d actually gotten somewhat invested in the characters, and when she grumbled at the TV and suggested they watch something else, he stopped her.

“I just need to know if her boyfriend is really cheating on her,” he found himself saying, and Robin’s face lit up with glee.

“Am I dreaming?” She asked. “Steve Harrington likes to watch telenovelas?”

Steve scratched his neck. “I mean…”

Robin grinned at him and he knew he’d never live this down, but he didn’t have the heart to tell her that he only watched it because he wanted her to catch some sleep.

“Well, if we’re watching this, at least tell me the gossip about the characters.”

They looked at each other for a moment with matching grins at how ridiculous this situation was. A voice in Steve’s head informed him that this would be a great moment to spill his secret, to tell her about the feelings he’d been having a lot, lately, but he elected to ignore it.

Then, he said, “Well, the blonde woman is married, but also has a secret boyfriend…”

* * *

On a seemingly mind-numbingly boring day at work, the thought appeared in Steve’s head again.

He had been leaning against the counter of the video store, Robin perched upon it with dangling feet, sucking on a lollipop that they normally reserved for kids coming in with their parents.

They were chatting about something random or other when a guy walked in through the door that had, in every aspect, the air of a Big City Guy, appearance complete with a leather jacket, a nose piercing, several tattoos visible through his white, see-through shirt. His hair was gelled up almost as immaculately as Steve’s, and Steve’s only thought at the sight of him was _‘holy shit, he’s hot’_.

The guy winked at both of them and headed towards the ‘Buy’ section of the store. Robin rolled her eyebrows and disappeared into the back room, muttering “I can’t deal with this shit” as she passed Steve.

The guy browsed through the store for a while, and Steve did his best to appear busy, looking through the new arrivals stacked behind the counter, tidying up the lollipops, straightening one of the displays, until the guy came up with some random action movie that Steve wasn’t familiar with. (Not that Steve was familiar with a lot of movies, but he’d gotten better since working at the store.)

“Hi,” the guy said, and Steve felt a tingle run down his spine at his deep voice.

“Hi,” he replied. Scanned the movie, told him his total, accepted the cash handed to him.

The transaction was completed, but instead of leaving, the guy leaned on the counter, closer to Steve. “So what’s the deal with that girl from before, she single?”

Steve pursed his lips, considered his answer and decided, “Nah, she’s not. Got a boyfriend, huge guy, wouldn’t try anything if I were you.”

“Shame,” the guy said. Looked at Steve, raised an eyebrow. “What about you?”

“Oh no, I’m not into her. She’s like, my friend and all, but –“

“No, I mean are you single.” There was a slight smirk on the guy’s face, and Steve felt his cheeks blush against his will.

“Oh, I’m not – “ _not gay_ , he wanted to say, or _not into men_ , or at least _not interested_ , but instead of any of those options, he choose to go with a very eloquent “ _uh_ -“.

The guy grinned. “Well, if you ever find yourself in New York and have figured yourself out by then, gimme a call. I feel like we could have fun together.”

Steve took the business card the guy handed him, still not sure what to respond.

“Nice talking to you,” the guy said.

Steve replied, “Yeah, you too.”

As soon as the door closed behind the guy, Robin came back from the back room. “Yeez, what’d he want?”

“To know if you were single,” Steve told her absentmindedly, tucking the business card into his back pocket. _Just in case_ , he told himself.

“And what’d you tell him?”

Steve came back to himself and grinned at her. “That you have a huge boyfriend who’ll beat him up if he tries anything.”

Robin snorted.

* * *

“Why do I get the vibe that Luke is lowkey into Han?”

“Never noticed, to be honest. Although, now that you mention it…”

“I mean, it’s kinda weird, cause Han’s dating his sister, but you know what I mean?”

Steve looked at the screen and watched on as Luke Skywalker did a somersault and hit some alien with his lightsabre. He hadn’t been focusing on much other than the fact that Luke looked really good in his black-on-black outfit, but he could kind of see where Robin was going.

 _The two of them would make a really hot pair_ , a very helpful voice in his head added. _How about you tell Robin that thought and then the secret’s out there_.

Steve ignored the voice, took a sip from the bottle of wine they were sharing and said, “Leia’s still the hottest person in the whole movie, though.”

Robin, who was definitely past being just tipsy, did something she’d never even imagine doing while sober; she sighed. “Dude, _Carrie Fisher_.”

Steve nodded. “Carrie Fisher.”

* * *

“Remember when we watched _Grease_?” Steve finally managed to say when a warm August night found them sitting on the hood of his car in a random field half an hour outside of Hawkins.

Robin turned from where she had been looking up at the stars to look at him, instead, and frowned. Passed him the thermos they had filled with rum and coke (more rum than coke) at Steve’s house earlier this evening.

“Dude, what are you even on about?”

He took a gulp. The alcohol warmed his body to the core, but he wasn’t drunk, not even properly tipsy yet. He was going to bare this secret tonight, he had decided, and he wanted to be at least somewhat clearheaded when he does so.

“Like, remember that scene you were mad about where Sandy dresses up in all black and you said it was, like, the patriarchy or something?”

Robin huffed. “It’s the patriarchy making the girl change for the guy.”

“Yeah, but she looked really hot.”

Robin looked at him, then snorted. “Yeah, she was smoking hot. Still, what’s this got to do with anything?”

Steve looked out into the field and wondered how people did this, how Robin did this, with the way his throat clenched up and his stomach ached. (The voice in his head was chanting _say it, say it, say it_ again.)

“Well,” he began. Took a gulp from the thermos, decided to just go for it. “I thought that Danny was, like, smoking hot, too.”

Robin’s eyebrows shot up. Steve looked away.

“Steve Harrington,” Robin said, slowly. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Steve felt himself grinning at her. “Depends on what you think I’m saying.”

Robin grinned back. “Are you, like, bisexual?”

“What’s that, exactly?”

“When you like both. Men _and_ women.”

“There’s a word for it?” The world rearranged itself in Steve’s head. Apparently, he was not the only one feeling this way.

“Yeah. That what you mean, dingus?”

Steve thought about how _dingus_ had long lost its power as an insult coming from her. There was no bite behind the word when Robin said it.

“I guess that’s what I mean, then.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah, holy shit.”

They passed the thermos back and forth in silence, and Steve started to sense the alcohol more and more, a tingle spreading from his chest to the rest of his body.

After a while, Robin burst out in giggles.

Steve couldn’t help but join, even if he didn’t know what she found so amusing.

“To think,” she said, “that we both thought the other was _straight_.”

Steve snorted, and they were both in stitches, and then Robin doubled over and tumbled off the hood, and Steve laughed hard enough to fall off right after her, and then they were lying on the ground, giggling.

At one point, Steve got up and pulled Robin to her feet with him. He spun around, into the field of waist-high grass, Robin following in the track he trampled, whooping.

They turned and spun until everything around them was turning and spinning, and then they collapsed in the field, the only light coming from the stars above them and the one lamp left on inside Steve’s car.

Robin was giggling again.

“This feels like that time we got drugged by the Russians.”

Steve burst into giggles, as well. “Holy shit, we got drugged by Russians!”

“Yeah, holy _shit!_ ”

Their giggles lessened after a while, until both of them were quiet again.

“I think we handled ourselves pretty well, though,” Robin said.

Steve turned his head and found her smiling at him, and he couldn’t help but return the smile.

“Yeah, we did.”

Her hand found his and their fingers intertwined as they lay in silence in the field, looking up at the stars.


End file.
